Nakamura Wins a Fourth Straight Bullet Brawl With a Score of 155

GM Hikaru Nakamura claimed the $400 first prize at Bullet Brawl for the fourth week in a row, finishing the two-hour arena on 155 points. The win also gives him the record for most Bullet Brawl victories in a single calendar year, and he got there with three months of 2026 still to play.

Chess.com framed it as a fitting capstone to a week in which Nakamura also pushed the site’s blitz record to new heights. The report notes that the decisive work came in the second half of the event, where he pulled away.

That detail matters for how these arenas are won. Over two hours, a player can sit mid-table early and still take the title if he strings together streaks late, since the scoring favors sustained momentum over a fast start. Nakamura’s long record in online bullet and blitz makes him the obvious candidate for that kind of finish.

The rest of the prize list

GM Jose Martinez finished second and earned $250. GM Tuan Minh Le took third for $150, and GM Pranav Venkatesh was fourth for $100.

Two International Masters just missed the money. IMs Renato Terry and Havard Haug were unlucky to be left out of the prizes because of inferior tiebreaks, a harsh way to lose out in an event where scores can bunch up near the top.

IM Rose Atwell won the $100 best women’s prize.

A run that keeps stretching

This is not a new pattern. The Chess Herald recently covered Nakamura winning Bullet Brawl by 25 points, and the fourth straight title extends a streak that has now run for a month. The headline score of 155 is the latest entry in that sequence, and the record for a single year is now his regardless of what happens next.

The prize structure is also worth a glance. With $400 for first and $100 for fourth, the gap between winning and merely placing is modest, so the incentive for the regulars is as much about standing in the weekly bullet scene as about cash.

The next Bullet Brawl begins on Saturday, October 10, at 12 p.m. ET / 18:00 CEST / 9:30 p.m. IST. A record that already stands means any further win only adds to the total.